Bellevue Residents Vote on EP&O Levy

Photo by Ken Lambert from The Seattle Times.

Although budget problems have plagued Bellevue School District (BSD) with uncertainty over the past couple years, on February 10, some monetary anxiety was temporarily alleviated with the renewal of two BSD levies—the Education Programs and Operations (EP&O) levy, and the Technology and Capital Projects (TCP) levy. Both levies are collected in the form of proportional property taxes on assessed values of Bellevue housing properties. Renewed in 2022, they were set to expire after the 2026 school year and thus were due for an extension. The EP&O levy implements a projected 75-cent tax per $1000 of assessed property value and helps fund everything from 7-period classes to extracurricular activities to mental health support. The TCP levy, a projected 54-cent tax per $1000 of assessed property value, supports physical infrastructure and technology and helps funds things like the maintenance of school buildings and computer access for all students.

Levies were voted on in the recent February 10 special election, and both were passed (the EP&O levy received 66.1% of votes in favor of renewal, and the TCP levy, 64.6%). Some Bellevue students even had the opportunity to vote on the levies themselves!

“The voting process was pretty easy, and I just voted for the position which I thought was more based on the facts and evidence presented on the ballot,” senior Brooke Bede said.

The passage of the levies was also celebrated by BSD administration.

“I want to thank our community for taking part in this important civic process. These levies continue current funding for BSD staff, programs and services not provided by the state. We thank our community for their support and commit to continue being good stewards of these funds,” BSD Superintendent Kelly Aramaki remarked.

Over the next four years (the time for which the levies have been renewed), these two levies are projected to generate approximately $655 million dollars in property tax revenue. Both levies will hopefully provide a critical foundation from which BSD can pull itself out of its current budget deficit and towards long-term financial stability.